Skiers To The Vosges Up By 8 Percent

At A Glance

Where

La Bresse Hohneck, France

The February holidays in France were a great success for the Vosges resorts, but less so for the Northern Alps.

The number of clients in the Vosges increased by 8 percent compared to last year, despite the late snowfall. The region saw a marked rise in the number of clients from the Benelux countries and from the Paris region.

Philippe Poirot, director of La Bresse Tourism Office explains the trend, "I think that proximity played a role. Our prices, which are less expensive than many Alpine resorts, made us more attractive for Parisians in this time of financial crisis."

The Vosges resorts have also heavily invested in equipment in the past few years, especially in snow canons, making for reliable snow cover.

The resorts of the Southern Alps saw their clients increase by 3 percent and generally had more sun than the Northern Alps.

Resorts like Courchevel and Val d'Isère recorded a 7-percent drop in the number of clients. There was also a strong fall in the number of British skiers in the Northern Alps. They usually make up a quarter of the region's foreign tourists.

Good snowfall over all of France's mountains led to a better repartition of skiers. According to Jacques Guillot, president of Ski France, "this without a doubt led the high-altitude resorts to lose some of their clients to other resorts."